NFT Name: Goddess of butterflies in pop art style v1 (ed. 5)
Showroom Creator:: Creator: (at)jacuzzi
Edition owner: @litguru
Rights: Published under limited reproduction rights
As the carcass of the James Webb space telescope glides by the Evolutionary Café, the Alchemist falls silent. His abstract face folds and unfolds in a writhing mass of flesh and organic silicon. Outside the window, the sunlight glints off the hexagonal panels on the telescope’s optics, and for a moment, it looks like a golden flower drifting in the darkness of space.
“Yes! Indeed!” the Alchemist says when the telescopes disappears beyond Athena’s ringed horizon.
“YES, INDEED!” shouts the crowd in the café, raising their glasses and drug paraphernalia of choice.
“It comes in waves, doesn’t it?” the Alchemist says licking his lips. “Every age, every era. There’s always novelty just over the horizon. Will this be it? We ask ourselves. Will this be the holy moment of metamorphosis, or will it be the sphincter of the great filter?”
He parts his gelatinous hair which quickly slides back into place.
“What do you think, Van?” the Alchemist says turning his head in my direction.
“About what?” I ask him.
“About everything.”
An elusive and effervescent character, he finally agreed to meet us in this place. The Evolutionary Cafe, he calls it, where business, pleasure, and work are fused into an eclectic cocktail of madness.
“I catch your drift,” I tell him, suddenly self conscious that I sound like a terra-head. “It comes in waves, you say. You refer to the key moments in which human evolution busts a nut; it’s mutate or die for the species.”
The Alchemist laughs and claps his hands. “Goodness me. We got a live one, boys and girls. Yes, indeed!”
“YES INDEED!” shout those within earshot, who then break into a chant calling me a jolly good fellow.
Tables and work benches have been placed in a circular room with a large single-pane window overlooking the colony. There’s even what looks like a mind-bar at the far end for those feeling a little more adventurous. The clientele is a motley crew of colourful characters- purchasing, buying, designing, and even demoing the latest in neuro-synthetics. All under the supervision of our flamboyant host, the Alchemist.
“Do tell,” he says to me leaning with his elbows on the table, his face writhing with curiosity.
“Take the space telescope” I say. “It found the first signs of intelligence life out there. That little fact alone changed the course of history. Entire religions and ideologies disappeared overnight under the weight of that knowledge. New ones were born.”
“And that’s precisely what we’re about,” the Alchemy says, suddenly raising his voice. “Rebirth! Mutation! Metamorphoses! Personal choice to design and develop our own post-atomic future. That's what we're about!"
"INDEED!" the voices shout.
“I came into this business just wanting to fund my quest for the perfect high. It started innocently enough just like all things do. Then next thing you know, I’m an abstract NFT floating in the void of outer space. That’s how life goes sometimes. Yes…”
“Indeed” Sarah says, obviously annoyed with the mercurial Alchemist, who can’t bring himself to answer our questions in a straight-forward manner.
“And this is how you met, Tattiana?” I say trying to steer the conversation back to the topic I actually came here to discuss.
A leopard-skinned butterfly on the Alchemist's neck flaps its wings and flutters about. He reaches up with his index finger, and the butterfly lands on its tip. Bringing the butterfly up to his lips, he gives it a soft kiss and puts it in his mouth.
“Mm...it tastes like Chaos," he muses.
Everyone laughs and cheers.
"It’s not just a punctuated moment," he says, "but rather multiple waves that crash one after the other, almost at the same time. That’s the sexy bit. Just as the telescope was receiving the alien signals from Alpha Centauri, the first personal DNA editor went into the market in China. Across the Pacific ocean, in the Northwest Territories of old Canada, nano-tech made the tedious topic of global warming obsolete. And deep in an Amazonian cave, another little viral surprise awaited humanity. See? Multiple points that nearly simultaneously change the course of evolution in a single instant and bifurcate life onto a new steady state. It’s as inevitable as the sun also rising.”
“This is all fine and good," I say, "but where does this get us?”
“It gets us everywhere! Tell me, do you prefer to create and direct your own films, Mr. Crick? Or are you just an actor on a stage?”
“I guess, I am a little bit of both.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed your strutting upon Athena with your feisty little friend here.”
Sarah gives him a sharp look and pops her bubble gum.
“The point, my dear boy and girl,” the Alchemist continues, “is that we now find ourselves in a similar juncture. For the first time, we have the multiple tools to control our meta-biologic selves and finally become divine!”
“Oh lord, here we go,” says the exasperated Sarah.
A kaleidoscope of butterflies bursts from his mouth and flutters in the air.
Patrons break into cheer and applause.
“She came here, that woman you call Tattiana, though woman she was not, I could see right away. Oh, she bought the goods from me alright, but she did more than that. She helped me see the truth and lit a fire beneath my feet. For long, I had been running around aimlessly looking for the perfect thrill, when all I really longed for was the ultimate sense of freedom that can only be conferred through immortality, just like Tattiana said. That mad android prophetess changed my life with only one word. There was no going back. So, we reinvented ourselves again and again in a brainstorming frenzy until we became something new. Then voila! The Evolutionary Café blossomed. Have you seen our menu? It’s a delectable gourmet of choices. Karl here, is synthesizing human diet into its constituents components. Doesn’t that sound lovely? Do you want to add five years to your lifespan? Just pop one of his culinary delights into your mouth, and you’re good to go. No need to starve yourself. Amelia, love of my heart, distills all exercise into an elixir capable of rejuvenating any old coot or hag. Look at her supple skin, and she's nearly a hundred. I just want to eat her up yum! Then there’s Armando, oh my dear Armando, frozen Armando, muy caliente Armando, hibernating Armando. He’s my favorite, you know, but don’t tell him ‘cause it’ll go to his head, and we need his head for thermal regulation. Yes, indeed!”
“YES INDEED!” roars the crowd laughing, whistling, and hooting.
The music gets louder. The neon décor grows brighter. I can see the Alchemist moving his head, tongue wagging, but I can barely make out his words from the beat.
…keys to survival… sacrifice sacred cows… bold exploration… methodical experimentation…new techno-linguistics…
In the word salad, I think I catch him say “Hana Sensei,” but his voice trails off and blends with the cacophony of the aural synth.
I look at Sarah, and she looks back at me with a shrug. She takes a long-necked martini glass from the table and downs its yellow contents in a single gulp. I don’t know what else beside gin is in that drink, but I follow Sarah’s lead, and tipping my head back, I gulp down the concoction. For a moment, I feel like I just swallowed an entire pineapple plantation. I just hope it’s strong enough to help us make sense of the Alchemist, and his band of ragged little enablers.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17